Medical cannabis will be available on prescription in the UK within a month and experts say 10,000 MS sufferers could benefit.

Decisions on administering the currently illegal treatment will be made on a case by case basis until The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issues the results of a review into routine funding of the treatment on the NHS.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Home Office will announce the 'rescheduling' of cannabis-derived medicines in Parliament.

This will lift restrictions that until now have meant the oil has been allowed only in the most exceptional circumstances, like that of Northern Irish boy Billy Caldwell and former Emmerdale actress Leah Bracknell.

Billy Caldwell, who has a rare form of epilepsy, with his mother Charlotte in Belfast city centre shortly after they flew home to Northern Ireland

These drugs require a licence from the Home Office licence but if the review on cannabis oil is successful it could mean a move into Schedule 2.

Genevieve Edwards, from the MS Society, told the Telegraph: 'This is very encouraging progress for thousands of people with MS who have been forced to choose between living with relentless pain and muscle spasm or breaking the law.'

The case of Billy Caldwell ended with Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, allowed legal prescriptions of medical cannabis to him following a specialist review by England's chief medical officer earlier this year.

The move followed a long campaign by his mother, Charlotte, to allow her son to be legally treated with the oil.

In June, drugs prescribed for Billy in the United States were seized at Heathrow Airport.

After the rescheduling this autumn, users will no longer have to try many other opiate-based epileptic drugs before being allowed to use cannabis oil.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Caldwell said that her son's condition had improved dramatically.

'I feel absolutely, truly blessed from the bottom of my heart, that Billy has had access to this medicine,' she said.

Ms Caldwell and Paul Birch, a philanthropist who supported Billy's campaign in June, will tomorrow launch the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis to lobby the government to widen access.

Actress Leah Bracknell reveals she is breaking the law to stay alive by make cannabis oil at home

Leah Bracknell in Emmerdale, 2005

The 54-year-old says she would not be alive today if it wasn't for the oil which is 'as easy as baking a cake' to make.

The former TV actress says the class B drug has reduced the side effects of chemotherapy which has improved her quality of life.

In a blog post titled Cannabis and Me: Breaking the Law, she said: 'I envy Theresa May... I envy the fact that the naughtiest thing she has ever done is run through a field of wheat.

'How might she have fared had she had to break the law to buy cannabis to give herself or a loved one the chance of life?'

The mother-of-two was diagnosed with terminal stage four lung cancer in 2016.

The star who played Zoe Tate suddenly felt breathless while climbing stairs and her abdomen swelled up, but she saw four GPs in 10 days before she was finally taken to A&E.

She was diagnosed with inoperable and incurable cancer and started targeted biological therapy on the NHS to prolong her life.

In August 2017, the actress and yoga teacher revealed the treatment had stopped working and that she was relying on alternative treatments such as plant-based healing oils and sessions in an infrared sauna.

She admitted she used oil 'high in THC' every day since leaving the hospital two years ago.